World Cricket News

England are ready to be world No1 Test side, says Andrew Strauss 

Andrew Strauss has laid down the challenge to India ahead of a historic 2,000th Test, making his most emphatic statement yet that England are ready to take over their ranking as the best Test side in the world.

England, who are expected to pick Stuart Broad ahead of Tim Bresnan, need to beat India by a margin of two Tests in the four-Test series to displace them as world No1, and Strauss is a captain who feels that his team's time has come.

"I think England are ready to be No1, absolutely," he said. "I still think there are areas we can improve on so in that sense we aren't the finished article. But to be No1 is relative to what other sides are doing.

"Judged by our cricket over the last two years, I don't think there's been a side who have been better than us. We've [won] seven out of eight series and the other has been drawn, but this is a new challenge for us and our ultimate goal in the long term is not just to be the side who is No1 in the rankings, but the side everyone agrees is the best side in the world. That's still a long-term goal regardless of whether we win or lose this series."

The Indian player most likely to stand in England's way, as ever, isSachin Tendulkar. The thought that Tendulkar may score his 100th international hundred – his first Test hundred at Lord's – in the 2,000th Test is irresistible, so much so that Ladbrokes has him at 2-1 to do so. The thought that he might be sawn off on 99 with a bad lbw decision because India have refused to use the umpire decision review system is an enticing one, too.

Tendulkar has netted almost daily at Lord's since India arrived and calling, among others, upon England's Sikh spinner Monty Panesar as a net bowler. He has also found time to support the Capital Kids Cricket charity and in a rare interview, with Spin magazine, he suggested that, at 38, his appetite for the game remains unsated.

"Many guys have said I should retire," he said. "I'm glad I have proved them all wrong. I never really considered it. So many guys have had opinions – mainly ex-players – but they're not always right. You have more options as a batsman as you grow older. You know more about this game. Like anyone else, I've tried to get better and better each day. That process continues. I'm fine physically." Strauss said: "He's been a fantastic ambassador for the game. You look at his statistics – they speak for themselves, you don't have to rush out with platitudes or superlatives because it's all there. The longevity, consistency, shows he is one of the greatest ever. As man and ambassador, there is no one better."

Strauss went even further on the ICC Cricket World radio show, naming Tendulkar above Sir Donald Bradman as the best Test player in history. He would do well to employ a secretary for the next week to deal with the angry emails. "I think I would probably say it is Sachin Tendulkar who has been the best Test cricketer of all time," he said. " For him to go on for so long and maintain his incredibly high standards is a great testament of the man and the desire of his outrageous talent."

If the attention that Tendulkar receives in India is the most extreme, the experience is also common for other members of the side, notably the captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. One of Dhoni's key attributes has been to help India's squad retain their pleasure in playing the game. "Trying to keep it simple is important, especially when you have the expectation of 1.2 billion people," he said. "What we really emphasise is enjoying the game. More often than not, when you are part of the India team, you can't do that because of the hype."

Whether those supporters will follow Test cricket with enough enthusiasm for another 2,000 Tests is open to debate. Dhoni thought long and hard before proclaiming that they would. He also had a novel explanation for the decline of Test cricket in some parts of the world: privatisation.

"The world has changed," he said. "It means you have to go to your job, with the privatisation and everything that is happening, and the bosses want you to spend more time at your desk."

That the decline of Test cricket is due to privatisation would be a good theory to posit to the members in the Long Room. It would be unlikely to find many takers.